OP-EDs & Writings

As a contemporary artist Per Fronth is also engaging in the ongoings of public debate and discourse through writing and activism. He carry a voice of independence in the art world and is not afraid of taken lone positions on different topics - making him often a controversial figure in the cultural landscape with his pointed opinions.Here some examples of his Op-Eds published by national and regional media in Norway discussing the various issues of the day in the art world through his perspectives.

September 10th 2011 / Ten Years After: Norways largest newspaper, Aftenposten, prints its first visual and historic OP-ED article ever - signed by Per Fronth.Culture editor Knut Olav Åmås made press history when he decided to print Fronths op-ed article made up of 24 images and artworks by Per Fronth of minutes and years that followed the WTC terror attack Fronth witnessed with his eyes and camera.The visual composite, or narrative, should be read from left down til next top and down again - to follow a timeline leading up to the day July 22nd 2011.

That day Norway came under attack by a lone terrorist, killing 77 innocent lives, including 68 young political hopefuls from the governing Labour party at the Utøya summer camp.Fronths OP-ED enters in time minutes after the first plane hit the North Tower. Fronth was awakened by the large explosion nearby, he lived only six blocks away, and immediately started to document the unfolding horrors. When he returned to his studio later in the day to transmit his overtly dramatic imagery reflecting what the status of the Human Condition on Sep 11 - he continued his artproject downloading images from a webcam in Ny-Hellesund, Norway, a coastal village completely tranquil and unhinged by the terrible world events across the globe. To escape the constant media gatherings outside his front door and the change of psyche both personally and in the city, Fronth accepted an invitation to cross the Atlantic in a sailboat in November 2011. Fronths father, Sigurd ,was a merchant marine battling Hitlers submarine wolfpacks from 1939 - 1945. A consequence of the WTC terror attacks was that Norway became part of a military coalition with the USA and other countries to bring down the Taliban government in Afghanistan. In 2009 Per Fronth was finally , as the first contemporary artist , allowed to follow and embed the Norwegian forces of Democracy in Mazar - e Sharif in Afghanistan, resulting in his successful series Theatre of War ( 2009).That same year Per Fronth was selected Nobel artist, being chosen to make the prestigious Nobel Peace Prize Diploma. It was awarded US President Barack Obama in Dec 10th 2009.

Knut Olav Åmås is today director of Fritt Ord, a philanthropic institution based in Oslo, promoting freedom of speech and expression.